Pickens Vows Not to ‘Greenmail’ Japanese Company

Corporate raider T. Boone Pickens said today he will hold his newly acquired stake in a Tokyo-based automotive parts producer as a long-term investment and has no plans to “greenmail” the company.

“I am not trying to sell our shares back to the company or friends of the company,” Pickens said at a press conference.

News that the Texas financier had bought a 20.2% holding in Koito Manufacturing Co., which sells most of its production to Toyota Motor Corp., sent shock waves through the Japanese financial community, where hostile takeovers are a rarity.

Pickens said that he believes that Koito is well managed and that he is considering purchasing more of its stock.

Picken’s assurances came amid growing concern in Japan’s financial community that the Texas investor would attempt to force Koito or other companies interested in defending it to buy back his shares at prices higher than those he paid--a strategy called greenmail.